Richmond, VA

Recently Husband had some military business that had to be taken care of in Richmond. I tagged along for fun. We stopped at the Virginia War Memorial and Maymont Park. The Memorial is very moving. It lists all the Virginians who have given their lives serving our country from World War II through the ongoing war in Afghanistan. It was sobering to see all those names, and realize that they were from one State! My eyes filled with tears and my heart filled with gratitude as I read the names of the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom.

Part of the Memorial

Downtown Richmond (from the Memorial)

After the Memorial, we went to Maymont Park. What a fantastic place! They have a small aquarium with fish, turtles, eels (nasty, ugly creatures!), blue crabs, and river otters. We had a great time watching the otters swim. Husband enjoyed "playing" with a blue crab: the crab's claw would follow his finger as he moved it along the glass!

The park also has a petting zoo/farm animal area and a wildlife exhibit. The wildlife exhibit had deer, a bear, a fox, a bobcat, and birds of prey. 

Peeping Tom...I mean Mantis

Husband came home from church yesterday to find this on the outside of our living room window. This is the third year in a row that a solitary praying mantis has shown up at our house. Just last week we were talking about how we haven't had our annual visit yet. I'm not sure what draws them to our place each year, but I am still convinced that they are trying to find a way to eat me.  I think this one was going for the sneak attack because it was on the window and not the door like the previous two were. They are getting smarter. I better watch my back!

Dinner Diasters (yes, plural)

I decided to try a new recipe tonight. It did not go well. The recipe sounded delicious and was easy enough to make. However, when it came time to eat it, it was apparent that the amount of onion in the recipe needed to be drastically reduced. We're talking eye-watering onion here, folks. Husband woke up with a slight cold this morning, and after one bite of dinner he stated that his sinuses had cleared! He wasn't joking. Tossing that dinner in the trash, with the determination to try it again in a few weeks (with less onion), we decided to pop a frozen pizza in the oven. After the suggested cooking time, the pizza crust was still slightly doughy. I had already turned off the oven, but we put the pizza back in, figuring that the heat in the oven would cook the dough. We set a timer and sat down to watch some TV. A couple of minutes later, Husband exclaimed "I smell burning!" I smelled the burning as well, and we both sprinted to the kitchen where our pizza was now a blackened mess. It turns out that I did not turn the oven OFF, but had, in fact, turned the oven to broil. Oops! After opening every window in the house--and praying that the smoke detector would stay silent--I scrounged around for something suitable for dinner. Since it was 8:00pm and Husband had banned me from cooking anything else, I pulled out the peanut butter and jelly. Thankfully, my third attempt at dinner went off without a hitch! 

Bottom Creek Gorge

With the end of summer looming (boo!), Husband and I decided to go explore nature. We headed out to Bottom Creek Gorge to hike to a waterfall (hiking to waterfalls seems to be our thing here in Virginia). It was a perfect day weather-wise with the temperature around 75*F (about 25*C), and we enjoyed a fairly easy hike as the trail wound its way through trees and meadows. If you ever find yourself near Bent Mountain, Virginia, check this place out. It's a little hard to find and out of the way, but I think it's worth the effort.

A puzzling situation

At the beginning of the summer, I thought it would be fun to put a puzzle together. We bought a puzzle from the Dollar Store (because that is where we were when I had the idea). Over the past few weeks, we have been working bit by bit on the puzzle. Today, we finished it! Hooray! After the first step of assembling the borders, we realized that we were missing a piece. We had hoped that it would be found by the time the puzzle was completed. However, much to our frustration, the missing piece did not make an appearance. We have a sneaking suspicion that whoever boxed the puzzle left the piece out intentionally. That's what I would do if I was a puzzle boxer!

Strawberry Picking

It's pretty much the end of strawberry season here, but Husband and I were able to find a U-pick farm that still had some nice berries, although we had to search for them. As we picked, I told Husband stories about the family garden we had when I was growing up. I told him about the raspberries that seemed to take over the fence line. I told him how we would sneak strawberries off the plants while we were playing outside. I told him about the hot summer days spent pulling weed after weed after stupid weed from between the plants. I told him about going outside to cut some lettuce and pull some carrots for our salad. I told him about how I hated that garden at times...okay, pretty much all the time. But standing there, in the middle of that strawberry patch, I told him how much I missed it. It's funny that you never realize how important something is until you don't have it anymore. As a teenager, I would do everything possible to avoid working in the garden. Now, I would give anything to be back there.

The Chocolate Anniversary?

Husband and I decided that we would not exchange gifts for our anniversary. We were going camping and figured that was enough. However, Husband felt compelled to do something, since it was our 5 year anniversary, so he got me chocolate (smart man!). Each type of chocolate corresponded with a year of our marriage and as he gave them to me, he explained how it represented that year. Now, without further ado, I share with you our marriage, according to Husband, summed up in chocolate:

 The first year was sweet.

 The second year: Something about Canada...not really sure what he was trying to get across. He was coming up with these things on the fly. Apparently his thought process ended with "get chocolate".

 In the third year, he orchestrated all the love in his heart for me.

 The fourth year was like a cool, minty breath of fresh air.

The fifth year was full of laughs and Snickers.

A little cheesy and lame? Yes. But very sweet!